What's Driving Growth at the World's Fastest Growing Hardware Companies? Learnings from interviews with leaders at Mirror, Glowforge, EVBox, and AfterShokz

In this episode of The Breakout Growth Podcast, Sean Ellis is joined once again by Ethan Garr to discuss what’s driving growth at the world’s fastest-growing companies. The conversation focuses on learnings from Sean’s interviews with companies nailing growth in the challenging world of Hardware. While Sean and Ethan expected growth for businesses building hard goods to be vastly different from their personal experiences leading growth for software and mobile apps, they found themselves pleasantly surprised as they honed in on learnings from hardware companies that are applicable for anyone seeking to drive breakout growth in their organization.

Iterating to product/market fit is often not practical for hardware companies, but innovative approaches to drawing out market signals have the ability to tap into the love consumers have for product ideas even when an MVP or prototype isn’t possible (1:59). While a hugely successful Kickstarter campaign informed Glowforge as to who would embrace their 3D Laser Printers for makers and crafters (2:44), Brynn Putnam, the founder of the Mirror, learned through a survey of her boutique gym clients that wall mirrors could provide the immersive experiences consumers hunger for in their connected-fitness devices for home workouts.

The conversation also looks at the interdependencies of growth drivers seen throughout these interviews. While EVBox, a manufacturer of electric vehicle charging stations and software, showcased how a focus on customer advocacy can drive referral and retention cycles, a look into AfterShockz, a manufacturer of innovative headphones, brought to life how video and other methods for simulating and showcasing value for users can play an important role in growth (20:44).

Even though experimentation can be difficult in the slower cycles of hardware development, Sean & Ethan discover how these companies are still able to use a test/learn culture in their approach. Although hardware companies have unique challenges to overcome, in this episode, you will find that the fundamental tools and techniques driving growth at the world’s fastest-growing companies can cohesively be applied across industries and markets.

We discussed: 

• Product/Market Fit as the foundation for growth; how retained engagement is crucial across industries (3:00)


• How hardware companies tap into love for their products through community building and customer engagement (10:45)


• The challenges hardware companies face in using data to drive growth, and how that has changed with connected devices (6:42)


• Why the interdependence of growth drivers is critically important for these companies, and how they use tools like video to connect users to value (17:53)


• How growth is built and nurtured in fast-growing hardware companies with a clear focus on mission, and how team leadership and alignment drives success (34:45)

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